good ol' fashioned....

Well, thanks for the positive reinforcement guys, you have officially aided in my decision to continue writing....I will no longer be mentioning such things as riots and tear gas, toilet paper outages, and crazy chance encounters with local crazies in the street, however, here is the latest anecdote in my currently mild life....

Today (I wrote this yesterday) I met one of my neighbors! Weird right? Maybe this is not true where you live, but in Seattle - we really don't go out of our way to talk to people we don't know, as a general rule. I include myself in that, although I've even been known to be a little more outgoing than most (which has resulted in startling and confusing poor elevator riders simply hoping to get to their floors and locked safely behind apartment doors without any human contact). However today I was in a 'Seattle state of mind'...and I walked up the stairs at a brisk pace, pausing momentarily to smile politely and nod at the fellow on the stairs. He however, awkwardly said hello with the courteous nod as well, but then....launched into conversation! But, because I was already in motion and not expecting him to begin with any sort of real dialogue did not anticipate the need to halt soon enough. So we began to have a conversation as I slowly halted my ascent on the stairwell (by this time I was a good 5-6 stairs above him) and had a conversation from there. Mostly it consisted of, introductions and then him asking if my sister drove 'that car' (pointing to my car...) I, mildly amused, and more so confused, corrected him that it was in fact my car (as I had just exited it, moments before climbing the stairs) and that I didn't have a sister. Apparently he either thought that Tracy was my sister, or that the other girl he had seen was not me, but in fact someone who looked similar to me and drove my car. He then proceeded to ask me about the BMW parked next to my car, and if my sister owned that one. LOL. Needless to say - it was a rather awkward and forced conversation but I enjoyed it immensely nonetheless. It's nice to know your neighbors - even if their perception of you is a little bit skewed. So, now I have met Jake, the Asian man in (I'm totally guessing) his mid 40s, who smiles a lot, wears sandals that remind me of Chris Cho's, and doesn't seem to have a good grasp on reality. But who knows....maybe now if I ever need to borrow a cup of sugar, I'll know where to go :)